Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1887-08-06
JEFF Welborn's Views.

gradually growing poorer each
year, and many are the causes
given. Here are my views: Take
the small farmer he never plows
his land until time to plant; the
land is cleared up by hand; after
the crop is planted the long inter-
walls between plowings let the roots
of the plants catch in or near the
surface; he uses the bull-tongue
and single shovel, all the land that
has been broken is plowed up every
time he plows his crop, consequent
ly every time he plows he tears up
the roots. The plant will wilt and
will not get over the stunt until it
is time it was plowed again. All
the benefit the roots receive is the
shade from the turned up soil and
the substance carried down by the
rains, for the roots will be in the
unbrOken subsoil or clay, for, as
stated in a previous letter, no root
of any kind of plant will catch in
loose earth. The land must be
broken long enough to be Stacked
or mellow and ripe before it will
hold moisture and firm before a
root will catch. If the land is
plowed in the fall or early winter,
all trash can be turned under.
This not only saves the cleaning
up, but also breaking in the spring,
and the crop is put in quicker and
easier. The crop will grow off
much faster, and if only the sur
face be stirred every ten days, the
crop will be laid by before it is
hot; it will come in earlier, stand
much more drought, and if close,
regular blowing is done, little or
no hoeing will be needed. He
mortgages his crop. and the first
thing he buys is something that
will do to go TO meeting in.
Now, this is not the kind of pride
Tor Southern man to have. Twill
buy the necessities Of life on credit;
no conditions could make me buy
anything could do without, and
on farm the necessaries should
not be many. There has not been
a single month in the three years
past that we (brother and myself
have not taken as much a fifty dol
lars in cash for something outside
of cotton; some months four or five
times fifty dollars. yet my main
crop is cotton. Some reader will
say, eyes, you can talk, you are
up" am not much up, and not
long since / was extremely low;
but l will wear ducking pants,
brogan shoes and cotton shirt and
live on corn bread, home-raised
herbs, milk and butter the balance
of my days before l will knuckle
i'll debt to any man. Now, be-
lieve this is the way every Southern
mans pride should run. feel
that the Southern people are all
kin to me, and 1 have a right to
bump them in this style.
| The labor question comes nearer
"cleaning me up" than anything
else. l have, however, become
convinced that the Negro is our
main dependence; we have got him,
or he has US, l don't know which;
sometimes l think one way and
sometimes the other. At any rate,
we have to stay together, and we
must feed him or he will feed him.
self, and l prefer feeding him; it
{ takes less TO do him or there is less
waste attached TO our feeding him,
for he had u soon eat Berkshire
pig worth twenty-five dollars as a
j, scrub worth OLly two dollars; or
your Plymouth Rock chickens, as
any other che"per food. On the
shares we can't afford 10 give him
T good mule or horse to kill, or a
costly lot of tools, or seed to throw
away; for if he was to make six
bales of cotton and three hundred
bushels of corn, he would think he
ought to live easy the balance OF
his life. You should feed him,
and you or some one else will be
certain TO do it, too. Now, when
you take the eApense off of three
bales of cotton (for $50 bushels Of
corn don't go to his support; it goes
for Sunday clothes and whisky
we see very plainly that it will moi
; feed and clothe his family. l car
suggest no remedy that will meet
the case. If the Negroes woult
: work and quit their stealing,
would be on Wall street, New
, York, preparing myself for Can
ada in less than ten years. A
= the present price of cotton, to work
, them on shares, or rent them lane
and furnish them, is sure bank
ruptcy. We made consignment
, in two years; we were not enough
to put good taste in their mouth
: We have in the last five years
i hired them for standing wages
4 have no trading either way. Ipa,
you cash for your work and 20,
must pay me cash for what you ge
\ Chat is, all l see you geD; by thi
$ plan we have paid the old. debt
. one hundred cents on the dolla
Q with ten per cent interest, ant
Il y